Kante joins Fenerbahce after transfer dispute

N’Golo Kante has joined Fenerbahce, the Turkish side announced on Wednesday after controversy over the completion of the deal, while Morocco forward Youssef En-Nesyri has moved to Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ittihad.

The France International, who won two English Premier League titles with Leicester City and Chelsea respectively, returned to Europe after two and half seasons with Al-Ittihad.

The like-for-like exchange transfer appeared to be off after Fenerbahce said on Tuesday that Al-Ittihad had failed to enter the relevant information into FIFA’s transfer matching system to complete the deal.

However, Al-Ittihad later announced the sale of Kante, before signing En-Nesyri as a replacement for Karim Benzema who left the club by mutual agreement to join Al-Hilal on Monday.

“Welcome to our Fenerbahce, N’Golo Kante” the Turkish side posted on X.

The 34-year-old midfielder played a major role in France’s successful campaign in Russia to clinch the 2018 World Cup and is hoping to repeat the feat at the 2026 tournament, which will be held in North America next summer.

En-Nesyri, 28, joined Fenerbahce in 2024 from La Liga’s Sevilla and scored 38 goals in 79 games in all competitions.